Now It Costs Three Times As Much – For An eBook

This happened in the early 1980s, so that’s why the prices I mention are dated.

I was accepted at the local state college right out of high school. A couple of weeks before the fall semester started, I went to campus, got sorted into a major, and signed up for classes. The next week was when the college bookstore opened and I could buy my books. My mother wrote me a $50 check for books, saying that if it wasn’t enough to drop by her work and get another check so that mine wouldn’t bounce. I deposited it into my account on my way to the campus to buy my books. On her advice, I kept in mind to buy used books if I could, since they were typically 25% to 50% cheaper.

At the bookstore, I was sticker-shocked by how much my books were adding up to. My calculus book itself was almost $60, and it was VERY used. As a matter of fact, it probably would’ve self-destructed if I hadn’t claimed it. Altogether, my books were $130. So, I loaded up my books and went to my mom’s work to get another check to cover the excess. (Wasn’t check-floating fun?)

Mom: “Hi, dear. I take it you need a bit more for your books.”

Me: “More than a bit. They came to $130.”

Mom: “What?! That’s impossible. Did you get used books?”

Me: “Where I could. My calculus book was almost $60, and it’s on its last legs. And my bio lab book is barely more than a pamphlet, and it was $20.”

Mom mumbled as she started writing a check for $80.

Mom: “Your sister [Eldest Sister]’s books were only $45 when she started.”

Me: “[Eldest Sister]? As in my sister who’s eleven years older than me and went to college in the early ‘70s? Between then and now, there was that thing called ‘inflation’?”

Mom: “I thought $45 was too much back then.”

Me: *Thinking* “Well, you did go to college before the invention of paper, so…”